A march by gender activists in protest at the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League nominations of mostly men for the party’s top six positions would take place this week.
Chief executive of the Gender and Media Southern Africa network Kubi Rama on Tuesday said women who believed that the decision to nominate only men was ”problematic” would participate in the march on Wednesday.
Rama said the nominations had compromised the 50/50 gender principle that had been fought for.
”It is not just about the women’s league, the ANC had the opportunity to live the principle and we feel they have lost that opportunity,” she said.
The march, themed ”50/50: No compromise — No turning back”, would be aimed at keeping the principle of gender parity on the agenda.
An amendment to the ANC’s constitution to allow for 50/50 gender representation was mooted at the party’s policy conference earlier this year. However, reports say with women failing to secure a 50% nomination in the presidency and in the top six party positions, pushing for the amendment in Limpopo would be a challenge.
Meanwhile, the Star reported on Tuesday that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) had threatened to organise counter-marches if gender activists went ahead with the protests.
Spokesperson Patrick Craven said there would be marches but he was not sure who would be organising them.
He said a statement would be issued soon. — Sapa